The Way Out
by Piemage
Summary: Sasunaru. Naruto can only take so much, and he finally found a way out. Only one person can save him now. OOC? My first fanfic, please R&R!


Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own Naruto. But that might be a good thing. There's no telling what I would do to those characters :-D

Warning: Sasunaru, BoyxBoy, Shounen-ai, whatever you want to call it.

Now! First ever fanfic, not to mention first ever Sasunaru, so please no flames, I'm telling you now it probably won't be all that great. Enjoy!!

:-)

Naruto was dying. Slowly but surely he was fading away. He had worn that mask for so long, ignored the hateful stares, pretended to be immune to the icy comments or physical abuse. But even Naruto could only take so much.

It hurt Sasuke to look at Naruto. Naruto was the closest thing he had to a friend; he was his most important person. Yet he did nothing. He and the rest of them watched as Naruto's mask cracked. Naruto had stopped smiling altogether. There were no more loud, energetic shouts or begging his teammates to take him out for ramen. He was quiet, secluded, slowly drifting away from reality. Of course, Sasuke wanted to do something, but he had not the littlest idea as to what. So he ignored the changes in the blonde, pretended like they weren't happening.

Naruto sighed as he pulled open the door to his apartment. It felt so….._empty_. No one to greet him, no one to care. He trudged over, made himself ramen, and ate it half-heartedly. His team was meeting later that day to practice. _Just perfect. A chance to walk through the village and see all my fans._ Naruto sighed again. Today was going to be a long day.

Sasuke scowled and gave Sakura a dirty look. She had been pestering him non-stop since the moment he had gotten to the training field, talking about little things he had no interest in. When would she just _give up_?! He silently prayed that she would realize soon that there was no chance he would ever like her.

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto trudging up to the field. The sneer he had been giving Sakura turned to a small frown. Sasuke was really missing the hyperactive dobe, but there was no way he'd say that out loud.

"Hey." Naruto breathed, barely audible. Sasuke gave a small nod, acknowledging his presence. Sakura ignored him and continued pestering Sasuke, which made him more than a little irritated. It was obvious that she had never liked him, but did she really have the right to treat him like nothing?

Then again, that's how most people treated him.

Just as Sasuke was about to speak to the blonde, Kakashi popped up delivering the day's mission. It was some vague assassination, nothing new. It was boring and was completed in a few hours, so the team went to Ichiraku's for ramen (Sasuke's idea, to try to cheer up Naruto somewhat).

Sasuke's plan didn't work. Sakura continued to chat on and on to Sasuke while Naruto hurriedly ate his bowl of ramen. Then Naruto quietly snuck away without Sasuke knowing, as he was too busy trying to get Sakura off of his arm. He growled in frustration when he discovered the absence.

"If you're going to do something, you'd better do it quick."

Sasuke turned and looked at Sakura, who was gathering her things. "What are yo-"

"Naruto. He's getting worse. If you plan on doing something, do it quick." With that, she rose and was gone an instant later, leaving a baffled Sasuke behind her.

Naruto threw himself on his bed. Today had been horrible. Not only did the people from town start throwing food at him (though they've thrown worse), but Sakura had completely clung to Sasuke. It was one thing to have people he didn't know hate him, but being ignored by his most important person (and Sakura) was another thing entirely.

He came to a conclusion. Naruto was simply sick of living. People wished he didn't exist, his friends seemed to only hang around because they felt bad for him, and the one person he loved would never love him back. His life held nothing for him. How could Naruto even be a successful Hokage is no one respected him?

So, dreams crushed, self esteem gone, happiness terminated, Naruto decided what needed to be done. He would end this swiftly. All he needed was to step over the edge of the cliff at the far side of town, and it would be over. The pain would be gone, once and for all.

After Sakura's mysterious comment, Sasuke walked around town, thinking. How in the world could he pull Naruto out of his misery? Of course he liked Naruto. Maybe…..maybe even loved. But would one person's opinion be enough to drown out the entire village's opinions? If Naruto knew that at least one person needed him, could that alone save him?

Sasuke frowned, the questions tumbling through his mind. Sakura was right. Naruto had gotten considerably worse over the past few weeks. But what was he supposed to _do_?! Tell him? Confess his love for the boy since they were small?

_Fine!_ If that were the only way to save Naruto, the only way to get his dobe smiling again, he would do it. No matter how much he'd rather go on pretending that everything was fine, it was obviously not. He had no idea what would happen if he did that. He had no idea what Naruto might do…. Sasuke ran to Naruto's apartment as fast as he could.

Naruto took a deep breath. The sight from the cliff was truly amazing. The sun was setting, turning the whole sky pink and orange. From the cliff, it seems that was all you could see. The pink was so inviting, as if you could touch it, feel it if only you took a step closer…

"Don't you dare take that step."

Naruto flinched, but he didn't put his foot back on the ground. He doubted that even Sasuke could make things better now.

"Don't…Naruto…." Sasuke's voice faded. He sounded as if he were in pain.

Naruto turned to look directly at Sasuke. "What do you care teme? Do you have any idea what it's like to be me? Having to live in fear of the people around you, pretending you're not surrounded by people who despise you? That wished that you never existed. It's a pain too deep for someone like you to imagine. But I finally found a way out." He looked back out to the ever-darkening sky. _No_! He thought. He wanted to see if the pink felt as soft as it looked, if the sky was as inviting as it seemed to promise. Naruto jumped.

Sasuke freaked out (in a most un-Uchiha like fashion) when he found that Naruto wasn't in his apartment. Or at Ichiraku's. Or the training grounds. In fact, Sasuke couldn't find Naruto anywhere. Until he saw him, standing at the edge of the cliff with a far away look in his eyes.

Sasuke tried to stop Naruto, to confess, to tell him that he was needed, he couldn't kill himself now. But all that came out was "Don't…Naruto…" Sasuke silently cursed himself for not being able to say what he saw Naruto so desperately needed to hear.

"I finally found a way out." Sasuke saw Naruto as he leaped off the ground, into the air and to his almost-certain death. Sasuke lunged at him. He found himself grabbing Naruto by the wrist, holding onto it for his (and Naruto's) life.

"Sasuke! Let go of me! I want to fall; I want this to end. Why won't you let me go?!"

"You can't die Naruto, I won't let you. You're too important to me! I need you, because….I love you…" Sasuke's voice was barely a whisper, but Naruto heard every word loud and clear. His eyes were unnaturally wide (more so than usual) and his mouth was hanging open slightly. For the moment, the surroundings around them fell way. There was only the two of them, nothing else.

"Sasuke…." Naruto's eyes filled with tears as he looked into the face of possibly the only person who had ever loved him. And he couldn't be happier.

Sasuke was suddenly snapped back to reality as he noticed that his grip was slipping. "Naruto, give me your other hand!" He yelled. Naruto quickly gave it to him, and Sasuke was able to pull him up with only a little effort, except for the undeniable fact that Sasuke slipped while pulling Naruto back onto the ground, forcing them to fall over.

Naruto was speechless as he looked into Sasuke's onyx eyes. Naruto was practically lying on top of Sasuke, their faces only a few inches apart. Naruto's face was covered with a blush, but he didn't care. He was so happy to realize that someone wanted him to be alive that he leaned down and kissed Sasuke softly on his lips. Sasuke was surprised, but he gave no complaints and gave a reaction quickly. Naruto felt butterflies erupt in his stomach.

"I love you too Sasuke…." Naruto breathed when they parted. Suddenly, there was a whole new reason to live.

Owari!!

Tah-dah! First ever story done. I feel both proud :-D (that it's done) and annoyed --' (cause it isn't that original...or good...) But I hope you guys liked it! Please review, tell me how to make it better, i need all the help I can get!!


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